...the winning lensman in Russia

Filipino lensman bags second place in int’l photo contest



Gabriela Baron
Manila Bulletin
17 September 2019


A Filipino photojournalist bagged second place in the Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest in the Top News, Singles category in Moscow, Russia recently. 

Basilio Sepe's "Baywatch" (Photo courtesy of Photojournalists' center of the Philippines, inc./Manila Bulletin

Basilio Sepe, a member of the Photojournalists’ Center of the Philippines (PCP), won the award with his photo capturing informal settlers scavenging recyclable materials in Navotas after Typhoon Karding hit in August 2018.

The photo contest was launched by Rossiya Segodnya under Russia Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to support young photographers and to popularize the challenges of modern photojournalism.

Photographers from 80 countries on five continents participated in the photo contest with over 6,000 works submitted.

The 24-year old photojournalist has previously won the IPA (International Photography Awards) Filipino “Photographer of the Year” last year for his work on the Philippines war on drugs.

Sepe was the former chief photographer of the Varsitarian, the official student publication of University of Santo Tomas (UST), and an alumnus of the Angkor Photo Workshop 2016.

He is currently an independent photographer based in Manila and has done multimedia works for local and international news agency.

...the greatest photos of all time

Filipino’s Pinatubo photo named among greatest of all time

By Bert Eljera
INQUIRER.net US Bureau

Sunday, March 9th, 2014

 

The driver of a pick-up truck desperately tries to overrun a cloud of ash spewing from the volcanic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. ALBERTO GARCIA/CONTRIBUTOR

• Several publications have honored Alberto Garcia’s photo

• Picture captured a pick-up truck running away from ash storm

• Photographer took the shot while running for his life

 

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — A photograph of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo has been selected as one of 38 emotion-packed pictures of all time by an American online publication.

 

In an article titled, “32 Heart-Stopping Moments You Can Only Experience Thanks To A Camera,” the Huffington Post picked the iconic picture of a driver in a pick-up truck running away from a storm of ash spewing from the volcanic eruption in 1991.

 

It was the latest accolade for photographer Alberto Garcia, former chief photographer of Tempo, a Manila tabloid affiliated with the Manila Bulletin.

 

” I am happy and grateful. At least after more than 22 years, they still remember how I captured the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo,” said Garcia when reached from his home in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where he is now based.

 

Even though the eruption happened those many years ago, Garcia said he feels like it happened yesterday, and his capture of the event is still vivid in his mind.

 

He said that when the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs), raised the alert level on Mt. Pinatubo, he immediately informed his photo agency based in New York about the situation.

 

“It took me 30 minutes to prepare my things and headed back to Zambales where the Philvolcs[1] people were stationed,” he said. “When I took the picture, my heart didn’t stop, it beat so fast and my body was shaking.”

 

He said that during the major eruption, they were about 20 to 30 kilometers away from the mouth of the volcano, and suddenly were being pursued by tons of hot ash.

 

” So everybody jumped into our vehicles and I was trying to put on my gas masked when I saw a blue pick-up ahead of that beautiful wall of gray,” Garcia said. “I opened the door and tried shooting the picture with my 50mm lens but it was too tight, so I decided to change the lens and used the 24mm instead and made sure my setting was correct and shot eight frames.

 

He said they finally outran the hot ash, and “although I had only eight shots, I rewound the entire roll of film, keeping it safe in my pocket.”

They spent more days documenting the aftermath of the major eruption before going back to Manila. He called a friend to process the film.

 

“I went straight to the airport international cargo and shipped the negatives to Time Magazine office in New York. The following week, the Mt. Pinatubo picture ran in a two-page Time Magazine spread,” Garcia said.

 

Time, Newsweek, and Asiaweek all included the picture in the 1991 great images of the year. In 1992, the picture won first place in the nature and environment category in the World Press Photo competition held in Amsterdam.

So far Garcia is the only Filipino photographer to have won the World Press photo competition. In year 2001, the National Geographic Magazine published a book called “100 Best Pictures,” which included Garcia’s Mt. Pinatubo photograph.

 

Also in 2001, Time published a book called “Time: Great Images of the 20th Century” featuring powerful images as Ali’s knockdown of Sonny Liston, the US Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima, the fall of Saigon and the JFK assassination.

 

Garcia’s photograph was there too.

 

” When I took the pictures, I was praying hard that I got the right shot,” Garcia said. “I knew we might die and before I die, I wanted to tell a story using my camera.”

 

...the Pinay's winning international photo

Pinay's photo wins in intl contest on gender, sexuality

GMA News

June 21, 2013

 

Out of 3,257 entries, a Filipino photographer's shot won the best photo award in an international contest on gender and sexuality.

 

 

Cindy Aquino's photograph from her "Bond" series, which shows two tattooed women placing their hands on one another in a quiet moment, earned the Pride Photo Award 2013, organizers said in a statement.

 

 

Aquino's winning photo, which can be viewed here, "shows a very human, intimate moment, very delicately told." said the jury that reviewed the entries.

Philippine photographer Cindy Aquino is the winner of the Pride Photo Award 2013 with a photo from her series ‘Bond’

 

“A lot of my friends are experiencing discrimination based on their sexuality and gender identity. I want to show society that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders are perfectly normal," Aquino said in the statement.

 

 

"Like everyone else in this world, they just want to find love, bond with others and live a happy life," she continued.
 

CNN published a story about the contest, and also interviewed Aquino about her photographs' concept.

 

 

Her series also placed second in the "Extremely Normal" category. Aquino found a "deeper meaning" in the process.

 

 

"I used the term 'bond' to show the society that even LGBT are like normal people (who) just want to be happy with their lives, love and bond with each other like others do, to develop interpersonal relationships with each other,” Aquino said in the CNN article.
 

She spoke of the discrimination against the gay community in the Philippines, and the fight of its members for acceptance.
 

"I know the issues and problems that they are dealing (with), especially here in the Philippines; Pinoys are very conservative when it comes to that issue,” Aquino said in the article.

 

 

“There’s a lot of discrimination going on, and most of the society still does not accept them," she also said. — Gian C. Geronimo, ELR, GMA News

 

 

...the top photographer

Pinoy wins slot in top photography masterclass

 

ABS-CBNnews.com

05/09/2013

 

 

An image from the award-winning photo essay “Marked: The Gangs of Baseco” by VJ Villafranca

MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino has won a slot at the World Press Photo’s 2013 Joop Swart Masterclass, the first Filipino photographer to be selected for the annual event, reputably among the most prestigious of its kind.

VJ Villafranca, who holds a Diploma in Photojournalism from the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism (ACFJ) of the Ateneo de Manila University will join 11 other young men and women photographers from 10 countries for the six-day masterclass meeting on November 2 to in Amsterdam.

Michiel Munneke, World Press Photo executive director, made the announcement during the opening of the 2013 World Press Photo Exhibit in Amsterdam last month.

The masterclass is the second of two top international photography honors won by Villafranca. In 2008, while still a student, he won the London-based Ian Parry Scholarship award, the first Filipino to do so. His DPJ photo essay documenting the lives of gang members of the "Chinese Mafia Crew" living in Manila's Baseco compound won him the award. The photo essay is one of six photo essays in ACFJ’s traveling exhibit “Asian News in Pictures.”

“Hope” is the theme of the photo essays to be produced in this year’s masterclass. The photographers will interact with six prominent experts to discuss technical and visual aspects of their work, as well as their role as a photographer, according to a World Press Photo announcement.

The 2013 masterclass members were culled from 174 candidates from 54 countries whose portfolios were screened by an international jury.

The Joop Swart Masterclass is named after World Press Photo's late chairman, an ardent supporter of young photographic talent.

The Diploma in Photojournalism has been offered by ACFJ since 2006. It was developed under a grant from World Press Photo which also helped developed ACFJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism launched in 2011.

 

...the Wikimedia Czech awardee

Filipino photographer wins awards in Czech Republic

 

 

 

Sunstar.com.ph

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

MANILA -- A Filipino photographer has won two awards from Wikimedia Czech Republic, an acknowledgement that the Filipino talent is at par with international standards, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.

Philippine Ambassador to the Czech Republic Evelyn Austria-Garcia said that Carmelo Bayarcal joins a French and a Russian in receiving the award, which will make their winning photos available for publication all over the world.

"Mr. Bayarcal's photos of monuments, one of which captured the Czech Republic's Astronomical Clock on Old Town Square, were chosen from among over thousands of photos received by Wikimedia Czeska from foreign entrants all over the world," she said.

Garcia received the awards on Byarcal's behalf at a simple ceremony held at the Czech Technical University last Saturday.

The diplomat thanked Wikimedia Ceska Republika for recognizing Bayarcal's talent, underlining that the award was indeed not only an honor for the photographer but also for the Philippines.

This was the first time a Filipino has been awarded by Wikimedia Ceska Republika, she added. (SDR/Sunnex)

...the UN photoshoot winner

Pinoy govt employee wins $3,000 in intl photo contest

 

November 2, 2012

GMA News

 

 

The lone Filipino finalist in the "global artistic competition" launched for the United Nations' (UN) International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) has clinched one of the top prizes in the contest, its organizer announced on Thursday (Manila time).

 

 

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) said on its website that Billy Rey Tamio, a 24-year-old government employee and freelance photographer from Tanza, Cavite, topped the photography category of the "Coop'Art - Express Yourself" contest, which "aimed to raise young people's awareness about the cooperative movement worldwide" through music, video, and photography.

Billy Rey Tamio’s winning photo. Photo posted with permission of ICA

 

The contest was part of the ICA's celebration of the IYC, set in 2012 by the UN General Assembly through a resolution passed in December 2009 that recognizes the role of cooperatives --- or "business enterprises owned and controlled by its members" --- in socio-economic development.

 

 

Tamio's entry, which shows a group of siblings in a red all-metal sidecar driven by a boy on a bicycle, won him USD3,000 and a trip to Manchester, United Kingdom this month.

 

 

In an e-mail to GMA News Online after he was named one of the finalists, Tamio said the kids in the photo, which he took at the back of the subdivision he resides in, showed him the concept of collective perseverance towards a common goal.

 

 

"Para sa akin, ipinakita 'yung pagko-cooperate ng bawat isa para masuportahan ang isang miyembro nito. Hindi man sapat ang kanilang pangangailangan, napagtutulungan nila na matupad ang pangarap nilang magkaroon ng edukasyon," he wrote.

 

 

Aside from Tamio, other winners include Francisca Javiera Badilla Castillo of Chile (video category) and Roberto Morban Ramirez of the Dominican Republic (music category).

 

 

According to Jose Antonio Chavez Villanueva, youth representative on the ICA board, "Coop'Art" received some 170 proposals from the Asia Pacific, Africa, Americas, and Europe. - R.A. Dioquino, VVP, GMA News

...the NatGeo photo winner

Pinoy wins NatGeo photo contest

abs-cbnNEWS.com

12/21/2011

 

 

 

A rainbow arches over the Philippines' Onuk Island after a rainstorm. Photo and caption by George Tapan / [http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com]

MANILA, Philippines – Travel photographer George Tapan bagged first place in the 2011 photography contest of National Geographic, according to the contest’s official website.

Tapan was picked as the winner in the Places category for his photograph “Into the Green Zone.”

The Filipino photographer submitted a photo of a rainbow after a rainstorm taken in the island of Onuk in Balabac, Palawan.

The photo also captured a fisherman in a small boat and a woman walking on the shore of Onuk Island’s pristine beach.

According to the website, judge Tim Laman said the photo “showed a perfect sense of timing and composition in the way he captured the two small human subjects in this beautiful scene, and that really made the shot.”

Judge Amy Toensing described the photo as "very moody, beautifully composed."

Nature photographer Peter Essick, meanwhile, was captivated by the detail of the woman's hair on the photo, saying that it only "fills a fraction of the picture's real estate, but by capturing the movement at the apex, the photographer has documented a sense of style and flair.”

Tapan’s photo showed that "small things can sometimes make a big difference," according to National Geographic.

Aside from receiving a cash prize of $2,500, Tapan’s winning photograph will be published in National Geographic magazine.

...the viral photo

Philippine killer picture tops Time Magazine’s best viral shots

By Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Friday, December 16th, 2011

INQUIRER EXCLUSIVE. Seconds after taking this picture of his smiling family outside his home in Caloocan City in the early hours of New Year’s Day, councilman Reynaldo Dagsa lay dead of a gunshot wound. The police did not have to look far for evidence of the killer’s identity. The Inquirer published the photo on its front page and it quickly went viral on the Web.

It’s that chilling shot of an amateur photographer that sent the world clicking the “share” button.

The last photo taken by Caloocan City councilman Reynaldo Dagsa of his family—which by a stroke of chance also captured the assassin aiming a gun at Dagsa—was selected by photo editors of the prestigious TIME magazine as among the world’s “best viral photos” of 2011.

First published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer frontpage  and uploaded on http://www.inquirer.net/ on Jan. 4, 2011, the photo taken by Dagsa just moments before he was killed on New Year’s Day eventually led to the arrest of the assassin and his accomplice.


Extraordinary story

Inquirer reporter Kristine Felisse Mangunay got a copy of the photo from the police file on Jan. 3, not thinking that doing the rounds of her beat that day would lead her to an extraordinary story.

“It was an ordinary day,” Mangunay recalled.  “I went to the police station to do the usual rounds.  The intelligence chief told me that a barangay councilor was shot dead and that ‘there is even a picture of it,’” Mangunay said.

“He showed me the entire case folder and everything was there, including the photo, a hard copy.”

The reporter, who had been covering the northern Metro Manila beat for just three months, felt an initial shock upon seeing the photo.

“I didn’t know what to do at first. I felt the picture was incredible, that it might be fake,” Mangunay said.
“The police told me the (Dagsa) family provided the photo so I had to look for the family to confirm it. When I spoke to his wife, I got the confirmation,” she added.

Sharing spree

The photo was published on the entire upper fold of the Inquirer a day after. Other media outfits eventually caught up and published the same photo, fueling a sharing spree online.

The list was published online on Thursday on TIME LightBox, the official blog of the US magazine’s photo department. While the list was posted in no particular order, Dagsa’s photo appeared first in the gallery.

Dagsa’s last shot shares the list with moments already bookmarked in history: a photo of a bloodied Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in his final moments in October; a picture of US President Barack Obama and top American leaders watching live the Navy Seals operation to capture Osama bin Laden in May; and a photo of British Prince William and Kate Middleton’s first kiss as a married couple on April 29.

“The photograph, taken just after midnight on 1 January, was released by Dagsa’s family on 4 January. It was published on the front page of The Philippine Daily Inquirer and then quickly went viral,” read the LightBox caption of the photo.

Once in a lifetime

Dagsa was taking a picture of his family minutes into the New Year when, apparently unknowingly, he captured his shooter, Michael Gonzales, taking aim at him.

The councilor of Barangay 35, Maypajo, Caloocan City, was felled by Gonzales’ shot after clicking his camera.

Fireworks drowned the sound of the gunshot, giving Gonzales and his accomplice, Rommel Olivia, time to flee.

Writing about the TIME photo editors’ picks, Nick Carbone, a TIME writer on technology, culture and society, described this year’s gallery as “once-in-a-lifetime” shots that “we couldn’t help but share.”

“As shocking as the subject matter is the simplicity of some images. A few came from mobile phones. Most were snapped without a thought of—or time to handle—composition or lighting. One was even taken by a man who would be dead minutes later,” said Carbone, described on TIME’s website as “a viral video fanatic and gadget connoisseur.”

Dagsa’s picture and the story of how he took it also made the news overseas. With a report from INQUIRER.net


View the photo list here: http://lightbox.time.com/2011/12/15/time-picks-the-best-viral-photos-of-2011/#1.

...the ace lensmen

Filipino photogs top Apec contest

By Jerry E. Esplanada
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

 

"Solar Energy Paners" by Reynaldo Mondez

MANILA, Philippines—Two Filipino lensmen have topped the 2011 photo contest  sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Department of Foreign Affairs  announced Thursday.

The DFA said  Reynaldo C. Mondez and Romeo B. Doneza  placed first and second in the competition with their entries titled “Solar Energy Panels” and “World Wide,” respectively.

Third prize went to Wong Chi-keung of Hong Kong for his entry “No Boundary Network.”

The DFA said in a press statement that Mondez and Doneza’s photos “stood out among the 204 submitted by 95 photographers from 17 Apec member-countries to best reflect Apec’s priorities of strengthening regional economic integration, advancing regulatory cooperation and promoting green growth.”

For receiving over 4,600 online votes, Mondez also bagged the Apec photo contest’s “Popular Choice Award.”

Mondez is a retired photographer of the National Housing Authority. He currently runs a small wedding photography business with his son in Metro Manila.

Two other Filipino photographers—Ellen de Leon and Robert Anton Pimentel— made it to the top 10  finalists with their entries “Winds of Change” and “Economic Harmony,” respectively.

Their pictures “stood out, based on the criteria for judging, which included the quality of the photograph, composition, overall impact, and artistic merit, as well as how it represents the three Apec themes.”

"World Wide" by Romeo B. Doneza

The contest judges were Eric Baradat, Agence France-Presse photo editor-in-chief-worldwide; Mladen Antonov, AFP photo editor-in-chief-North America; Getty Images photographer Palani Mohan; Apec Secretariat executive director Mohamad Noor; and US-Apec senior official Kurt Tong.

In a news release, the Apec secretariat quoted Mondez as saying he was “very happy and truly humbled by this experience.”

He had called his winning photo of children playing basketball next to a hut and a solar energy panel a “symbol of hope for a sustainable future, even in the most remote parts of the Philippines.”

Monde’s photo was taken in a “rural village in Rizal province.”

“What I am trying to convey to the world is to make renewable energy more accessible to everyone by first lowering the cost of technology. Through my photo, I hope to reach out to the decision-makers who are involved in renewable energy,” he added.

...the Photo Walk winner

Pinoy from Surigao wins Photo Walk grand prize

 

 

ROSE-AN JESSICA DIOQUINO

GMA News

10/26/2011

 

A 32-year-old educator from Surigao del Norte, Jaime Cesar Tibe, was named as the grand prize winner of the 2011 Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk.

Jaime Cesar Tibe's winning photo (From www.scottkelby.com)

Tibe's winning photo — showing a naked boy leaping into the water with his arms outstretched— stood out among nearly a thousand entries from various Photo Walk locations around the world.

The Worldwide Photo Walk was started by Kelby, an American photographer and post-processing trainer who heads the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

In the announcement he made on his blog Friday, Kelby lauded the shot's "sense of balance" and said it "makes me smile."

"As soon as I saw it, I smiled, and I'm still smiling," the award-winning photographer wrote. "Just looks like a beautiful summer's day, and a wonderful scene along the walk route... Great capture, moment, emotion, processing, and composition."

According to its website, a Photo Walk “is a social photography event where photographers get together in any public area to walk around, shoot photos, and generally have fun with other photographers."

Tibe, a first-time participant at the Worldwide level, will receive a number of technology-savvy prizes which include:

a collection of books authored by Kelby;

a 32-gigabyte iPad;

a one-year membership at the NAPP; and

a one-year subscription to Kelby Training.

Aside from the grand prize, Kelby also named 10 honorable mentions. A People’s Choice award will also be given to the photo with the most number of online votes.

‘Overwhelmed’

In an e-mail to GMA News Online, Tibe admitted that he "was overwhelmed" to have won the photography contest because he is only a hobbyist.

A dean at the Northeastern Mindanao Colleges in Surigao City, Tibe shared that he has only been into photography for more than a year who only bought his own camera two months ago.

Before getting his own gadget, he said he borrowed from his photographer friends, who influenced him to dip into the craft as well.

“Pahiram hiram lang ako noon. I started last year sa hobby na ito, and I know marami pa akong bigas na kakainin. [I’m] still in the process para maging professional photographer," he said.

"I can't believe na nanalo ako. Imagine out of 20,000 walkers, ako ang napiling grand prize winner," he wrote.

Tibe, a member of the Surigao Photo Club, said he was among the 40 photography enthusiasts who joined the Walk in Surigao City last October 2.

He shared that his entry was taken by the end of the two-kilometer walk at the Surigao City Blvd., when a group of young boys on the rooftop of a waiting shed called his attention.

“Pagkadaan ko, sabi ng isang bata, ‘Uncle, magtapon ka ng limang piso sa dagat, kukunin namin.’ Doon nag-start ang composition ko. Every time my girlfriend [would] throw [a] five-peso [coin] sa dagat, tumatalon sila [para kunin ‘yun]," he told GMA News Online.

Tibe decided to use his photo of the second coin diver, which he believed was his winning shot out of 195 captures that day.

Two Filipinos have previously made the Honorable Mentions list—Minella Rivera of Malolos, Bulacan in 2009 and Ronald Suello of Cebu City in 2008.

For this year, two other Filipinos made the list that Kelby made for entries that did not make the winning cut:

Victor Kintanar of Cebu City for “Best Shot That Gets Better Once You Spot The Subject"; and

RJ Palad of Manila for “Best Shot That Tells a Story".
- with Justin Joyas, VVP, GMA News

...the CNN's best 5 photo

SC photog’s ‘Ondoy’ shot lands in CNN’s best 5

INQUIRER.net

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

Photography, Ondoy, Doranne Lim, flood, CNN, CNN iReport, Supreme Court, Philippines, photojournalism

MANILA, Philippines—Lawyer Doranne Lim was taking photographs during an inspection of the flood-damaged Hall of Justice in Pasig City in September 2009.

Little did she know her snapshot of residents wading through floodwater spawned by Typhoon “Ondoy” (Ketsana) would be chosen by CNN as second in its five best examples of photojournalism from 2006 to 2011.

Lim was then documenting a visit to the Hall of Justice by then Supreme Court chief justice Reynato Puno when she captured on film the hardship of the flood-stricken residents of Pasig City.

She sent her photographs to CNN iReport and she would later be interviewed on phone by the international news network as her photographs were shown for the next 24 hours.

Topping the list of CNN’s best five was a photograph of a flood victim in Pakistan by AlizehImtiaz, a Pakistani filmmaker who covered the calamity and distributed relief goods in 2010.

In third place is a picture of firefighters shrouded in smoke, captured by professional photographer Chris Honeysett during the 2010 San Bruno explosion in California.

In fourth place is a photograph of three bandaged German tourists who were near an explosion at a government building in Oslo, caught by Trond Lindholm, a street photographer from Norway who was at the scene immediately after the attack. In fifth place is a photograph of a mass grave of earthquake victims on a hilltop, shot by then photography student Bobby Moon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 2010.

To mark the 5th anniversary of CNN iReport, the five best examples of photojournalism in its five years are being showcased on its website at ireport.cnn.com. iReport is the citizen journalism initiative of CNN that allows people from around the world to contribute pictures and videos of breaking news in their respective countries.CNN receives thousands of submissions daily.

Lim is a lawyer working at the Supreme Court’s Public Information Office. Aside from her regular legal tasks, she documents the activities of the high tribunal even those held in the provinces, like the Enhanced Justice on Wheels.

...the architect photographer

Pinoy architect wins Dubai photography contest

by Rachel Salinel

ABS-CBN Middle East Bureau

06/26/2011

DUBAI – Filipino architect Eric Olympia Fajut bagged the top prize in the 1st Dubai Municipality (DM) Photo Contest for World Migratory Birds Day in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Fajut’s winning photo stood out among the entries of the 40 other participants as it was the only one that captured flamingos in action on its natural habitat.

Fajut said that he patiently waited for the pair of birds to do something unusual.

“It was when the other flamingo spread its wings that I took the shot. It was a decisive moment,” he said.

Eric Fajut's winning photograph. Courtesy of Rachel Salinel.

The photo competition aimed to encourage creativity and artistic talents among DM staff in support of environmental protection issues as well as to introduce them to the characteristics and advantages of the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary (RAKWS).

RAKWS is located at the head of the 14km Dubai Creek that covers an area of 620 hectares. It features sabkhas saline flats, intertidal mudflats and magroves, with small lagoons and pools, as well as a few tiny islands lying between the Arabian Gulf and the Al Awir Desert.

The sanctuary supports more than 20,000 water birds of 67 species during winter and acts as a critical staging ground for wintering birds of the East Africa-West Asian Flyway. It also hosts more than 500 species of flora and fauna and is an important eco-tourism destination that receives increasing numbers of local and international visitors.

Fajut received the award on World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) in Dubai. It was a DM-themed event which highlights the threats faced by lands and degradation in the country such as drought and water scarcity.

It was not the first photography award for Fajut. One of his photos was also chosen as photo of the week by a Dubai newspaper last year. Moreover, his photos have been featured in international magazines.

The 35-year-old senior landscape architect has been working in Dubai for 12 years. Photography started as his hobby, and then became a passion to express is creativity and artistic capabilities other than designing.
This hobby paved the way to the co-founding of a photography online group called MidEast Snipers whose members are hardcore photo enthusiasts from all nationalities in the Gulf Cooperating Countries and other countries.

“I consider being a photographer as a privilege to have the ability to cpature and freeze a moment of beauty of God’s creation and share it to others,” Fajut said. “I feel proud to be a Filipino and honored to win this contest.”

He dedicated the award to his family and fellow Filipino photo enthusiasts.

Fajut fully supports the DM’s cause as he believes that everyone needs to preserve the birds’ sanctuaries, “for these are vital for the survivial of migratory birds and will preserve the balance in the ecosystem.”

The WDCD event is organized to promote public awareness to international cooperation to combat desertification, implemeting the International Convention to Combat Desertification. It also targets to direct officials and policy makers in the country to search for solutions to the challenge of desertification and arid lands.

...the winning photo

 

Filipina wins second place in MTV Exit photo contest

By Danica Marie Hermogenes
INQUIRER.net

04/07/2011

‘Women & Children, Abuse & Violence’ by Soleil S. Pamatigan

MANILA, Philippines—Filipina Soleil S. Pamatigan bagged the 2nd place at the MTV Exit (End Exploitation and Trafficking) Bold Lipstick Competition.

Pamatigan’s photo depicts a piece of paper in the process of being engulfed by flames, bearing the words “Women & Children, Abuse & Violence.” This emotive photo brings to mind how the lives of those affected can be destroyed, and just like paper reduced to ash if people don't intervene.

A native of Las Piñas City, the 26-year-old Pamatigan passionately reminds us that “there is no gender or age required to support this fight against this 'modern slavery',” said MTV Exit, a non-profit campaign to raise awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking in Asia and Europe.

Malaysia’s Chuah Siew Lin grabbed the grand prize with her entry bearing the words “I want 2 go home,” a direct and ultimately central theme in the battle to end trafficking, returning freedom back to those who have been deprived of it.

The Bold Lipstick competition aimed to increase awareness of the critical issue of human trafficking through an engaging medium and culminated in six shortlisted winners as voted for by the public. The contestants were encouraged to write a resonating phrase representative of their thoughts and emotions on trafficking...in lipstick.

In 3rd place is New Yorker J.T Liss, who was inspired to create her emotional piece after watching “Planet Better.”

For the 4th place slot is Weaw J from Bangkok. Her photograph depicts a woman with the word 'SLAVERY” imprinted on her arm, echoing the fact that “we are taught to believe that slavery has been abolished a long time ago, however, that's not the case...it's only been abolished on paper.”

Isela Guerra from Rio Grande Valley, Texas placed fifth with her photo cleverly showing two hands forming a heart and bearing the message “There Is Hope.”

The 6th place runner up of the competition Mau Thi Thanh Nahn from Hanoi, Vietnam created a very relevant image of a girl in the aisles of a supermarket, with the words “I am not goods” emblazoned across a sign.

Over 5000 votes were cast, acknowledging the breadth of the human trafficking situation. “Bold Lipstick” was launched in conjunction with the newest music video in the MTV Exit series, which in the past has featured the likes of Radiohead, Muse, and The Killers.

The video portrays a young woman being promised a better life by an attractive stranger, unaware of the danger of putting her trust in him.

Pamatigan said that there is no age required to support the fight against this "modern slavery."

“We need to get involved in educating other people about this growing crime. There are countless ways to extend help and support, to show that we care. A single voice can make a lot of difference who knows, it could even save lives,” she said.

...the winning photo

Fil-Am photographer wins NatGeo photo contest

 

 

CANDICE MONTENEGRO,

GMA News

03/21/2011

Fil-Am photographer Yen Baet's "Rainy Night in Hallstatt" won the National Geographic Exceptional Experience Photo Contest. www.yenbaet.com

Filipino-American writer-photographer Yen Baet won the grand prize of the National Geographic Exceptional Experience photo contest for her photo "Rainy Night in Hallstatt."

On her Twitter account, Baet announced that she won the photo contest: "It's official! Rainy Night in Hallstatt takes Grand Prize at NatGeo Photo Contest. Thanks for the support!"

"A heartfelt THANK YOU once again to those of you who saw this through & made it happen. Will always be grateful," she said in another tweet.

The contest results were also posted on the National Geographic website.

"Those votes were definitely hard-earned, and I can’t stress that enough. Most of it came from people I don’t even know and spurred on by genuine friends and family who believed that this was so important to me, enough for them not to ignore or consider trivial," she wrote on her blog.

Baet was born in the Philippines and is now based in England. She is the only Filipino to make it to the finals of the National Geographic photo contest. In an earlier interview with GMA News Online, she said she is proud to represent the country in the contest.

She bested five other finalists with her entry that was taken two years ago, on a rainy autumn day in the scenic village of Hallstatt in Austria.

The winner was selected through online voting, and each participant was allowed to cast only one vote. Only legal U.S. residents aged 18 years or older were allowed to vote.

The finalist entry that received the highest number of valid votes during the voting phase was declared Grand Prize winner.

Baet won for herself a nine-day trip for two to Peru, where she and a guest will visit the Incan mountaintop ruins of Machu Picchu, listen to music of the Andes, and attend a private weaving demonstration. The approximate retail value of the prize is $13,000.

The five runners-up will each receive a copy of National Geographic Simply Beautiful Photographs, valued at $35 per book. — RSJ, GMA News